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The Daily Northwestern Friday, October 25, 2013
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Township lays out next steps By PATRICK SVITEK
daily senior staffer @patricksvitek
Annabel Edwards/Daily Senior Staffer
PUMPKIN PRIDE McCormick sophomore Patrick Franks hands out candy to a child at Project Pumpkin. Men’s lacrosse organized a cornhole game as part of the event.
Project Pumpkin returns By ROSALIE CHAN
the daily northwestern @rosaliech1
Halloween came early to Norris University Center on Thursday as more than 70 Northwestern student groups volunteered their time and hosted activities for children at Project Pumpkin. Evanston families and Chicago area after-school programs like
Project JAM and YOU attended the event, planned annually by Northwestern Community Development Corps. Hundreds of children from the Evanston and Chicago area turned out, and about 30 NU students served as chaperones, leading students to different rooms for trick-or-treating. “Out of my four years at Northwestern, Project Pumpkin is one of the few events that bring together different corners of Northwestern,”
said Arpan Patel, Weinberg senior and co-chair of special events for NCDC. “It’s very nice to see different students who normally don’t interact with each other get together and have a good time at this event.” This year’s event featured a larger haunted house than in previous years. For the first time, the Panhellenic Association coordinated the project. Previously, individual » See PROJECT PUMPKIN, page 8
Evanston officials began plotting the immediate future of the township this week, hoping to restore order following the abrupt resignation of embattled supervisor Gary Gaspard. The township board turned the first page Monday, appointing city manager Wally Bobkiewicz to temporarily replace Gaspard. The trustees picked Evonda Thomas-Smith, director of the city’s health department, to handle the day-to-day duties of the job. On Thursday, Bobkiewicz said the township rehired office manager Rod Mitchell, one of two employees fired by Gaspard. The township will continue to function without the position held by the second worker who Gaspard let go, the interim supervisor said. Gaspard’s resignation was effective Oct. 18, less than five months after he was elected. In a brief letter to Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl and city clerk Rodney Greene a day earlier, Gaspard wrote he could no longer handle the time commitment of the part-time position. His departure came after a series of his decisions left township trustees with the impression he did not understand the full scope of the job. Aldermen also serve as trustees of the township, a separate entity with the same boundaries as the city. It administers general assistance for the needy and provides tax advice for residents. On Thursday night, Ald. Jane Grover (7th) applauded Gaspard’s positive
attitude toward the job but said the township board had “significant issues” with his stewardship of the office’s finances. In August, the Human Services Committee refused to approve Gaspard’s proposed township budget, which called for a 29 percent increase in spending. “We have a fiscal problem in this community, and to present a budget like this — I think it’s insulting to the township trustees,” Ald. Coleen Burrus (9th) told Gaspard at the time. Gaspard further drew the ire of the trustees when his office asked them to approve a more than $17,000 bill for newspaper advertisements for township job openings, one of which they had not yet approved. Gaspard attributed the eyebrow-raising invoice to a misunderstanding he had with a staff member. Meanwhile, the city has moved closer to abolishing the township. The council is expected to vote Monday night on asking Evanston voters as soon as March whether they want to get rid of the township. Bobkiewicz said he will detail the potential transition and address similar issues raised by the Evanston League of Women Voters. Grover said she would like to see the health department absorb the township’s responsibilities if Evanston residents vote to eliminate it in March. The department already offers similar services and is “closely connected to our most vulnerable residents,” she said. Grover added that Thomas-Smith would be the ideal candidate to lead the township, though she lives in Chicago and cannot formally hold the position under » See TOWNSHIP, page 10
Collaborative area Psych prof presents TED Talk in Norris takes shape By STEVEN MONTERO
By PAULINA FIROZI
daily senior staffer @paulina_milla
Just a few weeks ago, the large office overlooking Lake Michigan on the third floor of Norris University Center was just walls and many boxes. Now, the freshly painted space has seen some new blue couches and a colorful sign outside that reads “CSI, welcome to your new room with a view.” The new area includes offices for the Center for Student Involvement and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. The large room, when completed, will be the new Student Organizations Resource Center and will give student groups an area to meet and collaborate. Kelly Schaefer, Norris executive director, said she is hoping to plan a soft opening by mid-November and a grand opening of the completed space by the beginning of Winter Quarter. Although the center isn’t finished yet, she said it won’t be fully furnished until administrators can gauge what exactly students need. “We want to wait until students get a chance to get in and use it and find out what they need, and we’ll meet the needs as we see them,” she said. “It can be a collaborative space, an artistic space, a
meeting place. We want to know what are some of the things that can go in there.” Furniture that will be in the room includes tables with benches for group meetings, the rise-system couches and chairs that are currently in the space and which Schaefer said are conducive to collaboration, and two-seaters for a quieter conversation space. Aside from the resource center, Schaefer said the other three offices — CSI, OFSL and the Students Publishing Company — have mostly moved in to their new spaces. “They’re moved in and operating, but they’re not necessarily fully unpacked,” she said. Natalie Furlett, CSI’s associate director, said she is happy with the new offices. “It’s a beautiful place, we’re really happy to be able to share this with students and have the opportunity to give them as much space as possible,” she said. “We have a conference room now that’s dedicated to CSI and OFSL and that’s been able to facilitate a lot of meetings for us.” Furlett said she is looking forward to seeing how the new resource center will help groups that have not always had sufficient space. “It was normal to see students on the » See NORRIS, page 10
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
daily senior staffer @steven_montero
Don’t tell little girls they look pretty. This is one solution to “beauty sickness” that psychology Prof. Renee Engeln spoke about at her TED Talk on Monday at the University of Connecticut. Beauty sickness is the constant worry over outside appearances and a compulsion to perfect the body and how it is viewed by others, she said, adding that body size and weight are the most important parts of physical beauty for women and that this obsession hinders other activities. Engeln clarified in her talk that she does not want people to tell little girls they look ugly, either. She recommended complimenting other positive qualities such as being smart, persistent, generous and hardworking. Reaffirming these characteristics will help to avoid the epidemic of beauty sickness among young women, she said. She said she sees this sickness at Northwestern and recognizes its effects. In the past, sororities at NU have invited her to discuss body image. “There are a lot of women here who struggle with those issues, and to some extent, they’re kind of embarrassed about it,” she told The Daily on Thursday. “(Some think) ‘I’m a Northwestern
Source: TedxTalks
‘BEAUTY SICKNESS’ Psychology Prof. Renee Engeln delivers a TED Talk at the University of Connecticut on Sept. 21. Engeln discussed her major focus of study, “beauty sickness,” and how it prevents women’s involvement in global engagement.
student. I’m smart, I’m talented, I’m working hard. Why am I still worrying so much about how I look?’ There’s really a conversation here that’s worth having.” Engeln said she started research on this topic during her graduate studies. Her female students’ concerns over image and size inspired her to investigate women’s fixation with beauty. She said females are exposed to false images of beauty in the media more than ever. The three main messages broadcasted are that beauty is the most powerful thing a women can have, only
supermodels and celebrities can reach such a level, and an implied punch that “you don’t look like this.” Engeln emphasized that beauty is a natural thing people look for around them. However, she argued, a woman cannot consistently monitor her appearance and engage with her environment. “There are a lot of problems in the world,” she said. “We need women to be involved in helping to solve those problems. The more obsessed we are with our » See TED TALK, page 10
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